Wartime espionage, Urban alienation & youthful despair, plus the supernatural world all feature among Eureka’s September 2020 lineup

Eureka have announced their September 2020 line up today which will feature a 4K restoration of Fruit Chan’s cult-movie of eternal and tragic beauty; a 4K restoration of a highly influential film-noir featuring iconic performances from Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd; plus a re-issue of Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan.

Released to critical acclaim in 1997, the year of the Hong Kong handover, Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong was praised as an anarchic masterpiece, a powerful distillation of urban alienation and youthful despair. Produced on a shoestring budget, with non-professional actors and using discarded film reels for stock, the film was rescued from obscurity and fully restored in 4K in time for its 20th anniversary in 2017, thanks to the Far East Film Festival, in collaboration with Andy Lau’s Hong Kong production company, Focus Film. Made in Hong Kong will be released as part of The Masters of Cinema Series on 21 September 2020, featuring a Limited-Edition O-Card Slipcase.

One of the most revered film noir hits of the 1940s, This Gun for Hire was also the debut teaming of Veronica Lake, in one of her sultriest and most iconic roles, and Alan Ladd. Following the success of the film, the duo would go on to team up in several more features, although This Gun for Hire remains their most fondly remembered pairing. Ladd – as a frightening yet oddly sympathetic hit man – was only fourth-billed in this defining early noir, yet it became the breakout role that turned him into a star. As The New York Times said of Ladd upon the film’s 1942 release, “He is really an actor to watch. After this stinging performance, he has something to live up to – or live down.” This Gun for Hire will be released on Blu-ray as part of the Eureka Classics range on 14 September 2020.

Last, but not least, there will be an opportunity for those who missed out on the lightning-fast selling Limited Edition of Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan to get their hands on its hauntingly hi-res 2k restoration as Eureka launch the standard edition version on 14 September 2020.

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